Reliable government monitoring of private communications

[Boojatta]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/uaes-blackberry-threat-clouds-rims-future/article1658882/

This is old news (published Sunday, Aug. 01, 2010).

Note that the Blackberry is made by Research In Motion (RIM), and the head office of RIM is in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

UAE’s BlackBerry threat clouds RIM’s future

Research In Motion’s overseas expansion strategy – critical to the company’s long-term success – has suffered a serious setback as the United Arab Emirates’ government appears poised to block BlackBerry services from the country over concerns the communication device cannot be reliably monitored by local authorities.

(...)

The move comes less than a week after Indian authorities raised similar concerns, and the Saudi Arabian government is also reportedly considering blocking BlackBerry service. For RIM, such markets are of vital importance.

(...)

But the government (of the United Arab Emirates) is also likely concerned about the potential for BlackBerry communication to become an enabling tool for political opposition in the country.

Even though a service shutdown could impact millions of dollars in BlackBerry sales within the UAE, the bigger threat to RIM may well be the wider impact: many multinationals have headquarters in the country and BlackBerrys are still the smart phones of choice in much of the business world.

Link to a Canada forum DU thread that is arguably related:
What does it mean for a company to be "Canadian"?